The Center For Disease Control has announced that Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has declared a Public Health Emergency due to the Swine Flu outbreak.
It seems like every official website I have gone to in order to educate myself about this health emergency does not cut to the issues that are immediately important to you and I. Its good to know where the flu comes from and what the government is doing about it but the big questions for most people are the following.
How can I keep myself from getting this flu?
- Take care of yourself and drink plenty of fluids, rest and keep your stress levels down.
- They tell you to wash your hands, but just washing your hands is not enough. When you must touch something in public where the virus could live, do not put your hands to your eyes, nose or mouth without washing them first.
- Do not touch any surface that could possibly contain the virus. We have to touch door knobs, tables, desks, shopping carts etc.. but after touching a public surface, keep your hands away from your eyes nose and mouth and wash them as soon as possible. Wash with soap and warm water for 20 seconds or use hand sanitizer that does not require water. Carry some with you if you can.
- Go buy some antibacterial wipes and hand sanitizer if you must be out and working with the public. I went out and bought two sacks full of the stuff today to share with my family or whoever. Before I touched a shopping cart, I wiped the handle. Some stores provide wipes for the purpose. Or use alcohol. No not the type you drink =). Wipe your hands with alcohol to sanitize them if you don’t have anything else.
The symptoms.
- Fever
- Body aches
- Runny nose
- Sore throat.
- Possibly nausea
- Possibly vomiting
- Possibly diarrhea.
When to become concerned about children. Seek emergency care if your child has…
- Fast breathing or trouble breathing
- Bluish skin color
- Not drinking enough fluids
- Not waking up or not interacting
- Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held
- Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough
- Fever with a rash
When to become concerned about adults. Get immediate emergency care if you have…
- Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
- Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen
- Sudden dizziness
- Confusion
- Severe or persistent vomiting
If you get sick, stay home. Do not expose others. Tamiflu has been known to shorten the flu but you will need a prescription for it. Your doctor can determine what you need. Otherwise, treat yourself the same as you do for any other flu. I also keep lots of liquids around to drink along with chicken broth or other clear soups. Get some Imodium AD which will help with the cramping and the big D.
How long can an infected person spread swine flu to others?
People with swine influenza virus should be considered potentially contagious as long as they have symptoms and possibly for up to 7 days following illness onset. Children, especially younger children, might potentially be contagious for longer periods.
If you have it, to keep from spreading it.
- Stay home
- Limit your contact with other people as much as possible.
- Do not go to work or school if ill.
- Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing to prevent spreading the virus.
- Put your used tissue in the waste basket.
- Cover your cough or sneeze if you do not have a tissue. Then, clean your hands, and do so every time you cough or sneeze.
Infants and small children, people who already have a weak immune system and the elderly are especially at risk so keep a special eye them.
If you like, use this thread to share remedies, trade experiences, fears and any news you may have about your area or the outbreak itself.
God bless everyone. I hope this thing fades away rapidly. Please take care of yourselves…
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{ 19 comments }
QV,
What is this on your site?
Some kind of emergency announcement about lack of immunities?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_PZPpWTRTU
Gosh, get lots of rest, don’t get too stressed out, eat lots of fruit and vege’s and not too, much ‘take out’ lest it’s from a good caterer…
And don’t never forget vitamins aren’t food.
And just one last thing…a little fat is good.
I keep that hand sanitizing gel in my purse and car. I use it when I leave stores ect….
I remember being in the Doctors office with my oldest when he was just about to turn 2. There was a little boy in there scratching like crazy with his hands down his pants scratching. Before I knew it he came over to my son and grabbed his hands. I took my son to wash his hands and on the way as all lil ones do he touched his face and sucked his fingers.
Needless to say 2 weeks later my son came down with the chicken pox.
Handshaking is going to become obsolete if this keeps up.
What a time for this to be happening. When eveything is blooming.
I had a few of those symptoms last week. I chaulked it up as my allergies the runny nose and sore throat are gone.
People need to remember that yes it can be your alleries but be careful not to minimize the seriousness of this. Watch for those other symptoms not usually tied with influenza or allergies.
Thanks QV for this, Do you mind if I copy and send out to friends and family through email?
Sure Mish, I don’t mind if you copy it. I don’t think people realize how serious this is.
The CDC has just confirmed 1 case in GA….a Kansas woman who had just returned from Cancun. I’m with you QV, I’m carring those little disinfectent cloths around with me.
I get updates from the hospital that I work for all the time. The latest is that they have a patient who is suspected of having the virus and they sent it off. They indicated in the email that this person likely has it. They encourge anyone to say home in these emails if they suspect they have it. My son’s school said that today they indicated they have ordered hand sanitizer for every room, so everyone is taking this seriously. I know when I go shopping that I am stocking up on it besides the Lysol spray I alway have around here.
Spray those door handles with Lysol is what they are saying…..
Another plague. How muslims are taking over the world. Watch this movie to see how.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-3X5hIFXYU
My ex daughter in law works in the ER at the children’s hospital here. She came by this afternoon and said that she was nearly dead. She said that half the people in Memphis must have taken their kids to the ER today. Every one of them wanted a mask and then wore them under their chins and on their heads. There is a suspected (now probable I just saw on tv)case of the flu at a school across the county from us.
At the first of each school year every kid is given a list of things to bring such as Kleenex and sanitizer. Our kid said they are using the sanitizer a lot now. I hope that they can keep it under control.
Well, here we go Carole, Lucy and Collegiate. Looks like its going to spread fast. Keep us updated with news from your hospitals if you don’t mind? Thanks
I hope this isn’t too long. I may need to break this up some. But, this information may be helpful. It has occurred to me that this could even be a bio-terrorist created strain of flu. What concerns me is that is contains Swine flu and Avian flu that both had not been transferred from person to person that people have no resistance to and a human form of flu that is acting as a host carrier.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090427/hl_time/08599189402900
The H1N1 swine flu virus has already been identified as a new virus, with genes from human and avian flus as well as the swine variety. And since it is apparently causing large-scale outbreaks in Mexico, along with separate confirmed cases in the U.S. and Canada and suspected cases in other countries, it would seem that we’ve already met the criteria for phase 4. But though an emergency committee met on April 25 to evaluate the situation, the WHO hasn’t made the pandemic declaration yet. Keiji Fukuda, the WHO’s interim assistant director-general for health, security and environment, said on Sunday that its experts “would like a little bit more information and a little bit more time to consider this.” The committee is set to meet again by April 28 at the latest.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,518572,00.html
Swine Flu may have originated in California.
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2007/071219.htm
New Swine Flu Has Avian Flu Genes
By Ann Perry
December 19, 2007
Researchers have identified a new strain of swine influenza—H2N3—which belongs to the group of H2 influenza viruses that last infected humans during the 1957 pandemic. This new strain has a molecular twist: It is composed of avian and swine influenza genes.
I asked myself why would an engineered virus occur first in Mexico but now it looks like it actually first occurred in California.
This is an article about how the virus is mechanically altered in a good research environment. But, who is to say that it can’t be manipulated by someone that does not have the good of mankind in their thoughts.
I know it is a little paranoid but it is a possibility.
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2004/040211.htm
Progress in Reverse Against New Swine Flu Strain
By Luis Pons
February 11, 2004
Sometimes it’s best to take a step backward in the name of progress. That’s what scientists at the Agricultural Research Service’s National Animal Disease Center in Ames, Iowa, did in efforts to combat a strain of swine influenza that is relatively new to the United States.
Veterinary medical officers Juergen Richt and Kelly Lager of the center’s Virus and Prion Diseases of Livestock Research Unit used a reverse genetics process to actually create new flu viruses whose individual components could be explored. It is hoped these components can in turn become the targets of vaccines.
The influenza that has spurred this research–a swine flu type that contains gene segments from birds and humans, as well as from pigs–has spread throughout North America since being detected in 1998.
Swine influenza presents a special challenge to genetics researchers because its virus stores its information in RNA, which is more susceptible to mutation and allows viruses to evolve far more rapidly than in DNA. Because of this, it is sometimes hard for an infected host to develop lasting immunity.
Since manipulations commonly done on DNA cannot be performed with RNA, reverse genetics is used to perform a procedure called reverse transcription, in which RNA viruses’ genetic material is turned into a DNA state where modifications can be easily introduced. When the DNA is converted back into RNA, these modifications occur in the genome of the RNA virus as well.
Through this approach, the researchers in collaboration with scientists from Iowa State University, the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. used cloned DNA to generate swine influenza viruses.
Read more about this research in the February issue of Agricultural Research magazine.
ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s chief scientific research agency.
Let us all hope and pray that this illness does not cause havoc and illness throughout the world and it remains a mild strain without a lot of strength.
The Park City schools were closed yesterday and sister Catholic schools closed in SLC. I called the school, school board, and health department and got nothing but canned answers. To me telling our children to cover their mouths when the cough and to wash their hands is not going to protect them in that giant breeding ground of germs in what we call public schools. I have already called the school once this year about my kids coming home with an unusually large amount of bugs this year. I believe last year they stayed healthier because they were allowed to carry personal hand sanitizers to school. They said that they were cleaning the schools and I asked if they cleaned the water fountain between children that took a drink of water. They said that they sent sick kids home and I said that is too late. A child can be a carrier one day before showing any signs of the symptoms of the flu. I think small things like having personal hand sanitizers, carry their own bottled water, and teachers being prepared with home school work packets would at least be a little more than sending home a letter that our children need to wash their hands. Finally, I was told that we do have the option of keeping our children home. I struggled with the idea and then decided what is 5 hours (Friday is short day) when it comes to the health of your children. Also, as of now the median age of victims of this mega-virus is 17. I don’t know if that is because of our children being in close quarters or if the older generation has some kind of immunity. I am thinking it is the first option.
Yesterday the governor of Utah said the Swine Flu is in Utah and Vice President Joe Biden said stay out of confined spaces like planes and schools. Some little health department employee said to ignore them they are not in the medical field (oh the ego of those in the medical field) but I think that the Gov and VP were speaking from the heart.
Am I panicked? No, but if I am going to err; I am going to err on the side of safety when it comes to my children.
QV, not a problem. I’m glad the VP of Medical Affairs there keeps us all in the loop with the global emails we get throughout our hospital system. My son said that his school just ordered large bottles of hand sanitizers and placed throughout each classroom too.
The update in GA is the one in the hospital reported yesterday, and one suspected but not confirmed or hospitalized in GA. You know they were showing on the news that last year the “Flu” killed 36,000 people, and probably an unknown number of unreported cases. I think they said to date, there are 15 deaths, and only 1 in the U.S. What bothers me about a comforting statement like that is remembering history and the bubonic plague…..spread by rats and killed by the hundreds of thousands. Of course back then medicine was almost nonexistent, and cleanliness was just as rare. I think sanitizing everything is the key to prevention.
OT. Sizzles I left you a message in the shout box but it may cycle out. I said that you and Wulfson totally rock! I read what you posted on Topix. I also have a song title to dedicate to Nelda. The title ONLY.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMvDRx7H0iI&feature=related
P.S. I thought Teresa was “the only one we needed over the edge”. Hahaaa!
I think someone got “OWNED” and it ain’t by her masta!
LOL!!!!
Good Morning, QV and everyone. I’m still just waiting for them to ban my butt. I guess if I’m there, they’ll go after me and not their own. LOL. But Nelda’s statement truly surprised me. I had no clue what was going on in Florida except that it had to do with her statement to Wood and Babcock. For her to actually state that LW and KB more or less coerced HKS into that settlement to recoop some of their “attorney fees and expenses” just confirmed what I’ve always believed about the “settlement”.
hi guys. I think we have a case here in johnson county now.
waaaaaaaa
Carole, I think there is going to be some major shaking up in that case. Someone may have to return some money. All thanks to Nelda. I told everyone long ago they would regret even knowing her name. Look at the trouble she has brought upon them. Old dogs seldom learn new tricks. They just get older and more senile. Doesn’t come in handy when one tries to keep up with all the lies they have spread.
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